Expression of NF-κB-inducing kinase in breast carcinoma tissue and its clinical significance

To investigate the expression of nuclear factor-κB-inducing kinase (NIK) in breast carcinoma tissue and tumor-adjacent normal breast tissue and evaluate its clinical significance.

Surgically resected tissue specimens were collected from 82 patients with breast carcinoma who underwent surgical treatment at our hospital from March 2001 to December 2009. The diagnoses of all patients were confirmed by postoperative pathological examinations. NIK protein expression in breast carcinoma tissue and adjacent normal breast tissue was detected by immunohistochemistry; the association between NIK expression and the clinicopathological features and prognosis of patients with breast carcinoma was examined.

The positive expression rate of NIK in breast carcinoma tissue was significantly higher than that in normal tissue (63.4% vs. 25.6%, P < 0.05). Additionally, NIK expression showed no relationship to the tumor size, age, degree of differentiation, or pathological type; however, it showed a significant correlation with lymph node metastasis and the clinical stage of patients (P < 0.05). The five-year survival rate was significantly lower in breast carcinoma patients who were positive for NIK expression than in those who were negative for NIK expression (P = 0.006).

NIK expression was significantly increased in the tumor tissue of patients with breast carcinoma, which may be an important factor that affects the prognosis of these patients.